Re: Plugged, slow toilet RESOLVED

A month ago (8/30/05) I posted the following message. I had a few replies,
all good suggestions, thank you very much. The problem is resolved. See
below the message for the summary. Starting a new thread so maybe it can be
read by the people that helped me.

The main thing was to pull the toilet. So I got my wax ring & "a no-burst
braided supply line" as recommended. I got one of them "polymer braided"
hoses from Home Depot. I am surprised to see the stainless steel braided
hoses as I have seen what chlorine can do to stainless steel. My wife is
a bit of a germaphobe & uses lots of bleach on the bathroom floor (& a whole
lot of other places). Hard to believe that they are using stainless in this
application.
Had to replace the guts on the water stop, 35 years old & frozen on.
Pulled the toilet. Poured 5 gals of water down the hole. No problem.
Damned if it ain't the toilet. Wife tells me she wants a new toilet. So
this time I go to Lowe's as it was closer & they got one on sale. I get
it all out of the box & take the tank off the old one & toss it, pour what
water was left in the old bowl down the hole.. Then & only then do I
actually LOOK up into the outlet hole on the old bowl. There, right there
stuck at the outlet, is what looks like an old black flapper thing from the
inside of a toilet tank. Must of been there since we moved in. Obviously,
the closet auger was able to push right past it then it would re-seat itself
just enough to slow the flow down to a crawl.
I decided to just go ahead with the new toilet rather than trying to get it
all back into the tore up packaging & return it. I could have saved the
$100 by re-installing the old throne, but what the hell, as long as my wife
is happy. New toilet is not bad at all, a surprisingly good flush for a
low water throne. The way the tank could rock with only the 2 bolts
holding it was scary but once it filled with water it was solid.
Anyhow, thanks all for your suggestions.

A couple of notes -
1. I know of no one goofy enough to crawl under a cabinet or a toilet and
hose down their supply lines with liquid chlorine bleach. Most folks either
don't wash their supply lines at all and/or they have enough sense to use an
ammonia based disinfectant.
2. Your tank should not be "rocking to the point of being scary".
If you are careful, most brands can be tightened to the point that they are
very secure and stable. However, over tighten and you'll be back on your way
to the parts store for a new tank or bowl.
Bob Wheatley

In the packaging there were labels & instructions in many places warning to
not over-tighten. It said to hand tighten then only one half a turn more
with pliers. I went about a full turn, only because I figure that I got
weaker hands than average. Even so it did not appear to be stable, but as
I said, once I filled the tank, it appears to be solid.
BTW, when my wife cleans the floor, as she did when I completed the
installation, she used bleach & water, about a cup to a gallon of water.
The fumes alone would attack stainless steel. She also keeps chlorine
based cleaners under the sink in the kitchen. Again fumes alone would
attack the stainless. Helped a friend tear out then install a kitchen
cabinet & the stainless steel braided water lines were horribly corroded.
We were both surprised one of them had not yet burst. Thin stands of
stainless holding a water tube from bursting is chancy at best.
Thanks again Bob, you were one of the original that posted suggestions.
Ain't the Internet great!

sounds like you have not properly assembled toilet, a possible hazard. This
takes practice, you have to break a couple before you know how tight is too
tight. Your fear of the stainless is not founded, it is recommended in
places like restaurants where bleach and stuff even worse is used. the
bleach does not even rot out the inside of washing machines. you have to
soak stainless in bleach to make the brown come out and it has to be crappy
stainless. lastly we told you to pull the toilet we "solved your problem"
not you. don't act all proud when you were stupid and not able to follow
instructions and pull the toilet first.

OK COOL A REAL USENET FLAME.
Actually Ned, over & over again, I have thanked you guys for solving my
problem. I reposted a follow-up summary just to thank you guys. What more
can I do?
Stupid is as stupid does & I will tell you one thing I know, using cheap,
thin, stainless steel strand anywhere near chlorine based products, which
means any plumbing application, is stupid. Regardless that it is
"recommended". Recommended by whom? A braided stainless steel hose
manufacturer?
Using stainless steel strand in other applications such as hydraulic is
acceptable. What is good about it is it's durability to external damage
from movement & friction. Not something to worry about in a plumbing
application.
It seems that gas connector manufacturers are coating their stainless steel
gas connectors. THAT is a GOOD idea. I am absolutely positive that
manufactories do not add cost to their products without a good reason. As a
material engineer for an automotive supplier, I am telling you from
experience. Stainless steel corrodes. Using it in a household application
is insane.
However, it does depend on type of stainless steel. Some expensive alloys,
such as Hastelloy C276, is actually used for chlorine fluid transfer. No
way could a $5 hose use that type of alloy.

the end of your post, the part you went and looked up facts before you hit
the send button was where you started to figure it out. Stainless comes in
different flavors, your bathroom is not going to be a harsh enough condition
to make that rot out quickly. If your bathroom floor is that gross then you
have much more serious problems to worry about than that.

So what it comes down to is you are just guessing without professional
experience. I am a person who has seen this product used in 100's of
applications and have seen what it takes to make it rot out / fail. where do
you get off acting so sure when you know you are guessing?

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